Once again, news reports bring us the horrible news of another Mass Murder. This time in Roseburg, Oregon.
As is always the case, in the aftermath of such tragedy there is much talk about how we might predict who is likely to commit such an act. All manner of psychological experts appear on T.V. to provide profiles of the type of person who might commit mass murder.
There ARE commonalities we find among many of these killers. But commonalities are NOT predictors. Many of these killers are “loners” who don’t “fit in.” These killers have a history of frustrations. They externalize blame. Nothing is ever their fault. Some have documented mental illness. The problem is that these characteristics fit thousands of people who will never kill anyone.
The truth is, we have to face the fact that we will never be able to predict which INDIVIDUAL is likely to act and unless we can do THAT, we can’t prevent killing.
The next time these killings happen we will again see many mental health experts on T.V. providing profiles again because we can’t bear to face the fact that we can’t prevent killings by trying to figure out just WHO WILL KILL NEXT.
Expending our energies trying to profile the killers is a diversion from something we might be able to address, and that is how to block or reduce the MEANS that the killers use to carry out their acts. By and large the means they use are guns. The Oregon killer and many before him got their guns legally. With 200 million guns in circulation, it is not likely we can do much about guns at this point.
The question is political. When are we going to hold our elected officials and the NRA and the gun manufacturers to account?
